Skyscraping US prices defeat strong pound

Tourists heading across the Atlantic as soaring exchange rates give them almost two dollars for every pound may believe they’re in for the cheapest of bargain breaks.
But the new Post Office Holiday Costs Barometer warns travellers to watch their wallets because it shows everyday items like a bottle of beer or a tube of suncream cost far more.

An iPod or PlayStation 3 may be cheaper to buy across the Atlantic but holidaymakers will pay four times more for essentials, including mineral water, beer, suncream and insect repellent, in the USA than in emerging destinations like Bulgaria.

Like other Eastern European countries, Bulgaria is becoming a popular choice for UK travellers – with Post Office foreign currency sales up 83 per cent on 2006 levels in the fortnight running up to Easter.

With a much lower cost of living than most other holiday destinations, Bulgaria proved by far the cheapest country with a total shopping basket cost of just £16.86.

By contrast the USA weighed in at £69.41, a difference of over £53 for the 10 items - more than twice as much as five of the countries surveyed (Bulgaria, Egypt, Portugal, South Africa and Thailand).

The USA also was the most expensive when it came to the price of a meal for two with wine at £52.58, even allowing for the recent drop in the dollar’s value. A meal out cost around one third of the US price in Thailand, Egypt and South Africa, which emerge as the best value for UK holidaymakers planning a long haul holiday this year.

In the euro zone, Portugal’s shopping basket total of £33.65 put the country in fifth place overall but made it noticeably cheaper than the other euro countries surveyed; Spain and France were almost twice as expensive.

Greece was the cheapest holiday resort in the Eastern Med, at £41.06 for the 10 items, just pipping Cyprus and Turkey at the post.

Post Office head of travel services Kevin McAdam said the Holiday Costs Barometer was a useful guide to pricing abroad but warned: “You have to be careful when comparing costs in different countries. It all depends on their relative cost of living and it pays to be aware that favourable currency rates – like those currently available for the US dollar - do not necessarily mean a destination will be cheap.

“It’s useful to compare the costs across Europe. Our barometer proves that one currency does not mean one cost. With a difference of £32.25 between the shopping baskets in neighbouring Spain and Portugal, it is clear that there are savings to be made depending on where you choose to holiday in Europe.”

The Post Office found that individual prices for basics varied dramatically for every country surveyed. Prices for a bottle of beer varied by as much as £3.18 and for Nivea suncream by up to £7.59.

However, the USA wasn’t the priciest for everything – it was one of the cheapest countries for car rental at £50.48 for three days, second only to South Africa, where the price plummeted to £25.70. Most expensive was Portugal at £89.30.